The present invention relates to bionic ear implants, and more particularly to an ear level high resolution bilateral programming system for use with a bionic ear implant.
A new generation of cochlear implants, commonly referred to as a “bionic ear” implant, has recently been introduced to the cochlear implant community. A representative bionic ear implant is the CII Bionic Ear™ cochlear implant system introduced by Advanced Bionics Corporation, of Sylmar Calif. A bionic ear implant is capable of delivering electrical stimulation to a patient at rates and resolutions which surpass that of conventional cochlear implants.
Early research indicates that cochlear implant patients will benefit from additional synchronized and processed speech information conveyed to the brain via both the right and left auditory nerve pathways. Several configurations are available to implement such a system, including, e.g.: (a) bilateral implants controlled by a single master speech processor; (b) bilateral implants driven by independent external speech processors; and (c) bilateral implants driven by synchronized external speech processors. The present invention relates primarily to configurations (b) & (c).
Of significance to configuration (c) is its ability to interface with patients who use presently available technology platforms; specifically ear level early-generation speech processors. (The early-generation speech processors are referred to herein as “CI” processors, whereas the more recent bionic ear processors are referred to as the “CII” processors.) With or without a hardware change to a standalone behind-the-ear (BTE) processor, there is a need for an adapter module whereby two standalone BTE units may be synchronized both temporally and tonotopically to maximize the Cl patients listening experience. There is also a need for a peer-to-peer network and protocol consisting of two BTE units during normal operation, or two BTE units plus a host controller (PC, PDA, etc. . . . ) during a fitting session.